YE'VAREJEJA ADONAI YHWH V'YISMEREJA YAER ADONAI YHWH PANAIV ELEIJA VI' JUNEJA YISAH ADONAI YHWH YHWH TE BENDIGA Y TE GUARDE YHWH HAGA RESPLANDECER SU ROSTRO SOBRE TÍ YHWH TENGA DE TÍ COMPASIÓN YHWH LEVANTE SOBRE TÍ SU ROSTRO Y TE DE SU PAZ
Your ancestors converted to Judaism around 700 AD. I guess my ancestors didn’t. The music is very beautiful, and I get the family orientation, but after that the ideas I heard here today seem forever foreign to me. It makes me feel a little sad that 1,500 years and fifty generations or so of differences can’t be bridged by the genes. It wasn’t like they could read about Achilles and Medea instead of Moses in 700 AD. My ancestors maybe read nothing, while your ancestors were reading the only available book for literacy. These days we do have access to all the Greeks, however, and know to place animal sacrifice far into the distant past, whether it was Greek or Jewish, we know to be kind to innocent animals. Hazel, can you tell me who you suppose the prince you reference to be? In a context of barbaric animal sacrifices we know to keep in the past along with all ignorant superstitions? I quit every Christian tradition and holiday, and celebrate nothing but health, convenience, comfort, and some companionship in the most generic sense. There are only so many times you can read Father Zeus in the Iliad before you elevate your consciousness enough to know referring to God as a Father is a crock of shit, and Christmas was the crassest holiday, really, and I am so much happier just enjoying a free leisure day on Christian holidays, and I didn’t mind quitting Christianity one bit, but none of my ancestors had any exposure to Jewish customs or traditions for more than 1,500 years, and honestly it feels like there is difference in my genes as a result, because smearing blood of sacrificed animals and whatever your ancestors invented for dietary practices feels impossibly foreign to me, as interesting as it was for me to gain some familiarity through Hazel’s presentation. It would never matter to me which day not to work because I like quiet every day, and choose to work as little as possible any and every day. The traditions Hazel speaks of seem impossibly out of date to me, and the sight of Palestinian infants and toddlers broiled like skewered barbecue meat just reinforces my disgust with animal sacrifice. You could bring in a novel about slaughterhouses or tell a story about cattle farms in Kansas, and I could relate more, because I do like a good cheeseburger, but seldom have one, and it would matter to me how Kansas farmers treat their cattle. Because Achilles lived, Jonah isn’t relevant to me. I refuse to open my mouth. For me the old symbols are dead weight. If it isn’t for Helen’s hair, it shouldn’t be for her jawline and a wider mouth either. There has to be adoption, and the value can’t be gene reproduction instead. In the same vein as I quit Christianity, I can quit royalty, which is just to say that we can be royalty to one another. I didn’t know Jews would ever bow, and I saw my first ever Jewish congregation bow for one portion or song of this service. You don’t know how excited I was to see that, so I learned from watching here, because I also understood Jews to be too proud to bow. The way Muslims prostrate themselves irritates me as an atheist, because it is too servile a gesture, but I like the way Japanese bow. If I saw Hazel on the street, or at an airport, in Kansas, I would never guess her ancestry was Jewish from around 700 AD, because she just resembles generic European or even what we call Caucasian. The prince is just a bit of witticism, like all of Isaiah is witticism. Even separating milk from meat can be viewed as witticism, you go your way, I’ll go mine, and irrational things intended to narrow the gene pool even further irritate me. Ecumenical is the only way to peace, and believe, and I feel I did cooperate by quitting Christian altogether, because I can and do read the Greeks instead, and I can meet your ancestry half way, and what would have it been like 1,000 years ago if our ancestors born into different traditions would have mixed more, like knowing to put a slice of cheese on your burger to make it taste better.
Shalom Rabbi greetings to you and your congregation. God bless you'll abundantly. I am enjoying the service. So wonderful to worship with you'll ❤ Remember me in your prayers 🙏
